Bond money will replace lighting at some Mesa schools

Mesa Public Schools will spend bond funds approved in November’s general election to replace outdated lighting at 10 schools and six other district buildings early this year.

The district governing board voted in December to spend $944,000 on new T8 fluorescent lighting and installation — in time to receive a $57,000 rebate from Salt River Project.

“It’s a great deal,” said Bobette Sylvester, assistant superintendent for business and support services.

Sylvester also noted that the new lights could save the district as much as $250,000 annually because they will be more energy efficient than the current lighting.

“The energy savings should pay for the cost of the lights in three and a half years,” she said.

Dobson and Red Mountain high schools, Fremont,Poston and Taylor junior highs, Crismon, Salk, Stevenson and Webster elementary schools and Summit Academy will get new lights.

In addition, lights will be installed in the district’s administrative services, curriculum services, operations, student services and material distribution centers, and the food and nutrition building.

Voters in November approved a $230million bond for the district. The money will be used over the next several years to repair and remodel aging schools, replace worn-out school buses and update classroom technology.

The governing board is expected to set other priorities for 2013 school-repair projects later this month.

Some of the decisions the board must make include what schools will share in:

$110 million for repairs and renovations.

Five of Mesa’s 82 schools were built in the 1950s and 10 were built in the 1960s. They and many other district buildings need improvements, ranging from new chillers for air-conditioning to plumbing and roof repairs.

Key priorities are new cooling equipment at Mesa, Mountain View and Red Mountain high schools, all of which have had temperature-control problems in the last few years, but other schools have yet to be designated.

As recently as 2008, Mesa could have turned to the state’s School Facilities Board fund for such projects.

Created in 1998, the board’s mission was to give districts money to build new schools and remodel old ones so that they did not have to use bond money for school construction. But after the economic downturn, the Legislature stopped funding the program, forcing districts like Mesa to turn to voters for help.

$47 million for classroom technology, including state-of-the-art computers for student use.

While the district hopes to eventually have a “bring your own device” policy, the program has not started yet. In the meantime, it needs funds for classroom computers, Sylvester said.

$10 million to remodel one aging junior or senior high school and $8million to remodel one aging elementary school.

The elementary project would start in the 2016-17 school year and the junior or senior high-school project would start the following year.

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